The Padres nab a catcher from the Blake Snell trade. Discover his surprising path back to San Diego's farm system.
Somehow, the San Diego Padres keep finding ways to bring back players.
The Padres hired former reliever Craig Stammen to be the team's new manager, and then Stammen brought in Kevin Plawecki as the catching coach, who was a former Padres minor leaguer.
Now, the Padres have agreed to a minor league deal with catcher Blake Hunt, per the team's transactions page.
Hunt might be an unfamiliar name, but he was a catcher in the Padres farm system and part of the massive trade that sent multiple players to the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for Blake Snell.
Here was that package:
Padres get: LHP Blake Snell
Rays get: RHP Luis Patiño, RHP Cole Wilcox, C Blake Hunt, C Francisco Mejía
The Padres had also brought back Luis Patino in 2025 to their minor league system, so they now have reunited with two players who were a part of this deal.
Hunt was with the Mariners minor league affiliate Tacoma Rainiers last season and was designated for assignment only to go right back to Tacoma.
He chose free agency and now returns to the San Diego farm system.
Hunt isn't a name that many fans will know right off the bat, but the team needs catchers, and right now Freddy Fermin and Luis Campusano are the likely options to be the ones who make the Opening Day roster, meaning Hunt will start at Triple-A El Paso but could very well be the next man up for San Diego.
Padres Add Another Minor League Deal
And that wasn't all. The Padres also added another player on a minor league contract, according to Matt Eddy of Baseball America.
"The Padres signed OF Nick Schnell to a minor league contract. A Rays first-round pick out of high school in 2018, Schnell played in the Nationals organization in 2025. He led all Washington minor leaguers with 23 HR, 84 RBIs and 242 TB."
On Thursday, the Padres also struck a minor league deal with former Cleveland Guardians star pitcher Triston McKenzie, so AJ Preller has been active in trying to find some smaller deals while taking a flier on some guys.
Whether it works or not remains to be seen, but who saw Gavin Sheets turning out to be an everyday player last season?
The Padres are far from done in free agency, and it will be interesting to see how these players perform next season.